In a tough year for public schools,
board candidates state their case

This year has proved to be a watershed for the Grosse Pointe Public Schools. Budget wrangling in Lansing took a sizable cut from the budget, and all anyone knows about the years to come is that they're likely to be even leaner. And voters will have schools on their mind this Election Day: Two millage renewals are on the ballot, and five candidates are running for three seats on the Board of Education. 

Running for two 4-year terms are incumbent Joan Dindoffer, Michelle Peabody, Anthony Ambrogio, George McMullen and Thomas Jakubiec. Because of former board member Ahmed Ismail’s resignation, there will also be one partial, or 3-year, term available. Running for this position is Karl Kratz, whom the school board voted to replace Ismail in August, and Cynthia Pangborn.

Below, the candidates discuss the issues most important to them and their qualifications for office:

Joan R. Dindoffer
Age: 55
City of residence: Grosse Pointe Park
Years living in community: 23
Children in GPPS: Three graduates of South High School
Career: Attorney
Previous experience in elected office: 12 years on school board; has held positions of president, vice president, secretary and treasurer

What are your top three concerns and your strategies to deal with them?

1) Academic excellence: We spend a lot of time talking about the budget but I hope we could focus on the business of this district, which is teaching and learning. We should be focusing on new state graduation requirements, grade-level content expectations and making sure our curriculum meets those rigorous requirements and exceeds them.

2) Budgetary restraint: We obviously need to find ways to restructure our budget and find more efficient and effective ways to deliver the programs and services that have made Grosse Pointe a lighthouse district.

3) Community Vitality: Our property values are tied to our schools.

What is the one thing you would retain above all else?

Academic excellence: We need to continue to provide curricular and extracurricular programs that are excellent.

What makes you uniquely qualified for this job?

My experience is essential at this point in time. I’ve been on the board for 12 years, I was a volunteer on a variety of committees district-wide and in the building for 10 years before that. I’ve been the president, vice president, secretary and treasurer of the board.

We know that we’ll have new board members, but no board member has more than four years of experience. With my 12 years of experience, I bring a wealth of knowledge and perspective.

Michelle Peabody
Age: 49
City of residence: Grosse Pointe Park
Years living in community: 13
Children in GPPS: Two at Pierce Middle School
Career: Manages clinical research trials
Previous experience in elected office: None

What are your top three concerns and your strategies to deal with them?

1) Addressing the budget: We are looking at a total restructure. My idea is to look at every contract, every service and every cost to prioritize (the necessities) in the budget. I would advocate yearly no-cost service for residency checks to make sure the people using the resources are paying for them.

2) Keeping up with technology: Step up specialty fundraisers for the new technology. We could think about changing how we use our Sinking Fund (which is used to repair school facilities). If we were to add technology, like wiring our buildings for wireless Internet, we could rewrite the Sinking Fund to allow for that. We could add different classes to choose from, such as robotics. We could also offer kids in the community the possibility of earning credit for doing it outside the classroom.

3) Creating more transparency: We could expand the district’s Web site by making the number of kids in every class available. We should be determining what individual schools are spending per pupil instead of looking at the total budget spent for the district.

What is the one thing you would retain above all else?

I would not cut class hours or the time spent in school because the school day is short enough. We need to keep (the cuts) out of the classroom as much as possible.

What makes you uniquely qualified for this job?

I have an extensive background in management. I have worked with budgets and drafting Michigan government grant proposals, and received the funding from them. I have never gone over budget in all my years of doing budgets. I am uniquely qualified to look at the big picture and future projects for the district.

Anthony F. Ambrogio
Age: 61
City of residency: Grosse Pointe City
Years living in community: 18
Children in GPPS: two graduates of South High School
Career: Freelance writer, technical writer and editor
Previous experience in elected office: None

What are your top three concerns* and your strategies to deal with them?

1) The Budget: We have to make sure the two millages (the Hold Harmless millage and the Sinking Fund millage) pass. We have to look for ways to save money without harming the students’ education, first and foremost, and all the employees that work in the school and are dedicated to making the school system what it is.  We should tap into (the School Board’s Equity Fund), if necessary as a last resort to cover losses. We should be working somehow with Lansing as citizens to change the tax base to get more funds for public schools.

*Mr. Ambrogio said he could not see beyond the budget as an issue because it affects all aspects of the school district.

What is the one thing you would retain above all else?

I wouldn’t want to cut any program out completely. I would like to preserve the curriculum as it exists now. If we have to do it at a reduced rate somehow then I’d like to “spread the pain” so we still have everything, even if it is at a lower rate.

What makes you uniquely qualified for this job?

The kinds of decisions that are going to have to be made are going to be hard and they are going to require a certain amount of consensus among the members of the school board, the faculty and the community. I have worked in business and academia so I think the thing I do best is help build consensus. I understand how to work with people, how to get them all to agree on things in a way that is graceful and even with a touch of humor.

George R. McMullen Jr.
Age: 52
City of residence: Grosse Pointe Woods
Years living in community: 42
Children in GPPS: none
Career: Account executive (sales)
Previous experience in elected office: Member of the Woods Board of Review

What are your top three concerns and your strategies to deal with them?

I turn that question around into an equation. The answer to the equation is achievement, advancement and academics for the student. How do we get there?

1) Finance: Put everything on the table, from easy things like energy saving, to bad things like privatization and everything in between.

2) Communication to the taxpayer: Not only do difficult financial decisions have to be made, they have to be communicated effectively to the taxpayer. The Grosse Pointe School Board Web site should be restructured to make it easier for taxpayers to find things. I have the time to go to city council meetings, introduce myself as a board member and if need be, give a report at the meetings.

3) Learning environment: Reviewing the code of conduct and concentrating on safety.

What is the one thing you would retain above all else?

The Equity Fund would be last on the list to cut. I don’t think the voter is looking to put someone on the board so they can write a check from the Equity Fund to maintain the status quo with the issues we have coming in the future.

What makes you uniquely qualified for this job?

I offer a different perspective as a taxpayer and to see if I can make some suggestions to move the school system forward. I have 30 years of goal-oriented sales experience. That background will allow me to develop a formula to meet the goals that, with my input and consensus of the board, we decide for the next one year and far into the future.

Thomas C. Jakubiec
Age: 42
City of residence: Grosse Pointe Woods
Years living in community: 6
Children in GPPS: 2 at Ferry Elementary
Career: Industrial engineer/ process control manager and department planner
Previous experience in elected office: None

What are your top three concerns and your strategies to deal with them?

1) Long-term budget concerns: Looking at zero-base budgeting.

2) Yearly residency checks: When the students and their parents come back prior to the school year starting, they go through a series of tables that allows them to pick up information for the upcoming year. Residency verification checks would just be another table in that process. It would be little to no cost.

3) Security: The importance is to make sure the code of conduct is enforced and making sure every student knows what is in the code of conduct.

What is the one thing you would retain above all else?

In my opinion the district really needs to stay focused on giving our resident students the best learning experience it can – classroom learning, sports, extra curricular activities and fine arts – because I believe you need all of those pieces to develop the students to their full potential.

What makes you uniquely qualified for this job?

Being an independent-thinking parent of two sons who are young in the district gives me a vested interest in making sure the school is looking out for the long-term best interests of the students. I am best positioned to represent what the residents of the district want to see in the school system. I can add to and complement the other board members by bringing that diversity. I’m not a person who just came forward for the election. I have been very involved with the schools and the school board meetings. I bring a lot of value and different alternatives forward to make sure they get considered so the administration can make better decisions.

Karl Kratz
Age: 55
City of residency: Grosse Pointe Shores
Years living in community: lifelong
Children in GPPS: none
Career: An executive business director/ private consultant
Previous experience in elected office: Eight years on the Shores City Council; voted to school board to replace Ahmed Ismail

What are your top three concerns and your strategies to deal with them?

1) Maintaining district quality: We need to keep the school district at the exceptional level it is at now, because that is why people move here.

2) Meeting the budget requirements: We will look at various options for tri-semester programs and any other opportunities to minimize costs just from the daily operations. We are literally looking at every employee, every service, every material that we purchase and all contracts and seeing what we can do differently.

3) Focus on the student experience: We must look at the class size, the security, safety and residency – meaning the students actually live in our community. We must continue to fund these programs.

What is the one thing you would retain above all else?

Our basics in curriculum: math, science, English, etc. The curriculum must continue to be exceptional because that is what keeps our home values up and gives our children a better opportunity to go to the better schools.

What makes you uniquely qualified for this job?

Since I have managed a $78 million international business, I have worked with unions, administration and staff on the manpower side. I have operated under zero-budget and grew the business. I look at the school system very similarly, that it is a $105 million business and we have to be able to make our customers – our children and parents – happy, while operating under a fiscal budget. I’ve already been working with our administration, our special education students and the administration. I have the business background and I already know a lot of the key personnel involved.

Cynthia Pangborn
Age: 63
City of residency: Grosse Pointe Woods
Years living in community: lifelong resident
Children in GPPS: 4 graduates of South High School
Career: Realtor
Previous experience in elected office: Board member from 1996-2000

What are your top three concerns and your strategies to deal with them?

1) Enact a zero-base budget: I believe we need to reevaluate the positions we have at the central office and not only what their jobs are but reevaluate the number of consultants we have on the payroll. Just because (their jobs) were necessary 20 years ago doesn’t mean they are relevant now.

2) Increase financial transparency: It’s not good enough to know where the money is being spent. We also need to know why. We always have to see the relevancy.

3) Encourage open communication and feedback from the school board: An e-mailed answer (from the school board) doesn’t suffice because you can only e-mail the entire board. (An e-mail) to a private account does no good for this community because the community doesn’t hear the answer.

What is the one thing you would retain above all else?

No cuts to kids. We need a strong curriculum, our teaching staff and our extra circular activities. Those sports, those choirs and everything are really part of your well-rounded education. They need to be able to test out those careers while they are in school. For a well-rounded child you need to be able to do that, and our community expects it.

What makes you uniquely qualified for this job?

I can hit the ground running – I don’t have a learning curve when it comes to understanding the budget. I’ve been in the trenches for 34 years. I know the problems and I know the strengths. I personally televised the board meetings for six years before we could raise enough money for the school to do it. I taped them, took them to Grosse Pointe Cable and played them myself.

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